Quick Strut Recommendations?

[narlycharley]

Anyone replaced their strut assemblies with good luck from a specific brand? I've only been familiar KYB and have had good luck with them in the past. I'd like to get quick strut assemblies to get it all done and make it easy. The car has about 200K miles on it, and they're OEM, so it's due. lol.

I'm eyeballing this Monroe Kit for $345:

https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.ph ... 57&jsn=819

[Bookworm]

I used Monroe for the front of my 2003 - they worked fine, but I also reused the original nuts, and did NOT torque them down to the full specification, as that had been reported to snap the studs off.

Remember, tighten while in the air, but then check torque once dropped, drive a few minutes, then check torque again.

[zbyers]

I used Monroe for the front of my 2003 - they worked fine, but I also reused the original nuts, and did NOT torque them down to the full specification, as that had been reported to snap the studs off.

Remember, tighten while in the air, but then check torque once dropped, drive a few minutes, then check torque again.

I second Bookworm. And don't forget the alignment you should probably do after replacing the struts.

[cptnsolo77]

No experience with Monroe....but I will say dont go too cheap. I purchased some Unity struts off ebay 50K ago cause I was low on cash. Needless to say....50K later they are shot. My obsessive compulsive side says replace them...my logical side says deal with a little noise over bumps cause the car has 257K

[Bookworm]

No experience with Monroe....but I will say dont go too cheap. I purchased some Unity struts off ebay 50K ago cause I was low on cash. Needless to say....50K later they are shot. My obsessive compulsive side says replace them...my logical side says deal with a little noise over bumps cause the car has 257K

Realistically, 50,000 miles is a reasonable number for shocks. 20,000 miles is a bit early

[cptnsolo77]

No experience with Monroe....but I will say dont go too cheap. I purchased some Unity struts off ebay 50K ago cause I was low on cash. Needless to say....50K later they are shot. My obsessive compulsive side says replace them...my logical side says deal with a little noise over bumps cause the car has 257K

Realistically, 50,000 miles is a reasonable number for shocks. 20,000 miles is a bit early

I never looked into how long struts should last. I guess the cheapies werent so bad

[andrewclaus]

I bought cheap stuff from eBay (less than $90 a pair). My rationale is I don't drive much, about 5000 miles per year, and even 20K miles will probably outlast the life I want to get out of the car. I respect that there are users who wouldn't put that cheap stuff in, especially if one had to pay for labor too.

[jolt]

I just put Monroe Quick-Struts in my 2009 Vibe 2.4L. If I had to do it again, I would not buy the Quick-Strut. There, that was the quick answer. I would spend the roughly $50 more and buy the parts and put them together myself.

Here is what I ran into:
1. One of the struts had the upper rubber spring seat folded inside the spring so that the spring was metal on metal with the strut. I had to compress the spring and pull the rubber spring seat back out so the spring sat on the rubber. If you have to get a spring compressor to fix a new strut that is not assembled properly then what good is a Quick-Strut.

2. Both upper support bearings had no grease in them at all. When viewed from top of strut, you could look down into the upper mount plate and see the balls and the retainer in the ball bearing as the bearings are not sealed. No grease in the bearings at all. Now the shop manual states to apply grease to those bearing when assembling the struts so I had to pack the bearings with grease before installing the Quick-Strut. Do you think a shop would look or take time to do that to a Quick-Strut?

3. The Monroe Quick-Strut center shaft, where the upper mount plate attached with the big nut on top, is way longer then the stock strut shaft. So much so that the shaft sticks up above the top of the upper mounting plate. The problem is that the upper plate rubber covers will not go on because they are flat to fit the stock struts were the strut shaft sits below the upper plate. So I can not put the stock rubber covers on the Monroe Quick-Struts which then can lead to water/dirt/etc... getting into the grease I just had to put in the upper bearings.

4. I emailed Monroe support about the issues above and the only response from them was a automated email saying they received my email. I have never heard back from them so I guess support from Monroe does not exist.

I know I could cut the top portion of the shaft off but then my lifetime warranty would be gone. If you read replies about problems with the Quick-Strut, most of them are about noise and upper bearing failures. From what I have seen with the above issues, those problems for others are very understandable. The biggest glaring hole here is the total lack of Monroe tech support for their product. You would think that a company would want to correct these issues if they have production problems assembling the struts, but that does not seem to be the case here. They must want to keep replacing these unit under warranty. This then may say something about the companies warranty too. If they can not respond to issues like the above to correct these problems, do you think you will be able to get a hold of them for a warranty?

Anyways, I think I found some rubber strut caps for a KIA that will work with the Monroe Quick-Struts. The ride seems to be a little smoother with the 17" tires. Only time will tell if the Monroe struts hold up. This reminded me that I still have to check the toe-in on the front.

[vibe63]

If you're looking for OE replacement, Oredy is good, with lifetime warranty. I went thru 3 mfrs of defective struts, before I found Oredy. They ride nicely and take bumps well.

[Bosshog]

I just completed replacing all four struts due to a bad bumper on one and bad vehicle shaking with applying brakes at high speeds (intermittent, so it wasn't the rotors). Used Duralast from AutoZone (came with a $100 rebate.) No issued putting the new ones on. The fronts came with an extra turn in the coil compared to the old. Old ones were a pain to get off without an impact gun. Definitely use 1/2 drive/socket (broke my 3/8 drive socket) and a long ratchet/breaker bar, and lots of Blaster. One of the rear struts wouldn't come off the lower stud. Used the angle grinder/cutting wheel to get if off. Done over two days with small jacks (no lift). Shaking is gone and the ride is good. Finally, I had cheap knock-offs put on our Escape 2 years ago. They are pretty rusty already and starting to make some noise. I would recommend staying away from the cheap internet brands.